This study aimed to investigate and compare the total phenolic (TPC) and flavonoid (TFC) contents and antioxidant and antibacterial activities of different extracts recovered from Date Palm Pollen collected from Tunisian cultivars of Kerkennah (DPP-K) and Tozeur (DPP-T) using various solvents, including hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, acetone, ethanol and water. The results revealed that DPP-T had higher TPC than DPP-K for all solvent extracts, except for hexane, with a value of 237.74 ± 9.58 mg GAE/g for the water extract. The highest level of TFC (75.10 ± 4.37 mg QE/g) was recorded in the acetone DPP-T extract, which was about twice as high as that of DPP-K. A total of eight phenolic compounds were identified and quantified in both extracts by HPLC, namely gallic acid, catechin, caffeic acid, epicatechin, vanillic acid, coumarin, quercitin and rutin. The antioxidant activities of the extracts were screened using DPPH and β-carotene bleaching assays. The results indicated that the DPP-T acetone extract showed the best DPPH scavenging activity (IC 50 = 46.56 ± 0.28 µg/ml), with no activity being recorded for DPP-K. The DPP-T extract also showed significant effects in terms of the β-carotene test (28.12 ± 0.04 µg/ml) when compared to BHT as a reference standard. The extracts were screened for antimicrobial activity against 10 bacterial and 7 fungal strains, and the results showed that ethyl acetate DPP-K extract exhibited the strongest activity against L. monocytogenes and that the S. aureus strain was most sensitive to DPP-T, with MIC and MBC values of 0.98 mg/ml and 1.95 mg/ml, respectively. Both DPP-T and DPP-K showed strong inhibition effects on the growth of F. oxysporum. Further time kill assays demonstrated the potency of DPP-K and DPP-T ethyl acetate extracts to inhibit the growth of L. monocytogenes and S. aureus, respectively.Overall, the findings suggest that DPP could be considered a promising source of new natural antioxidant and antimicrobial agents for use in various food and pharmaceutical products and formulations. This suggested that the DPP extract is a good potential inhibitor of food 3 spoiling microbial growth and could be a highly effective therapeutic choice for human and plant infections.

Ecballium elaterium is a perennial herb with multiple medicinal properties. It was widely used in folk medicine as cathartic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents. The present study was devoted to investigate the effect of diethyl ether, acetone, and methanol solvent on the extraction, phytochemicals profiles, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Ecballium elaterium seeds and peels fruits. The total phenolic, flavonoid, flavonol, condensed tannins and carotenoids contents were estimated. Maximum phenolic (107 ± 4 mg GAE/g) and flavonoid (18 ± 0 mg QE/g) contents were also found in the methanol peels fruits extract. Results showed that methanol peels fruits extract have the highest antioxidant activity with IC 50 values of 1.2 ± 0.1 and 1 ± 0 mg/mL for DPPH and ABTS, respectively, and EC 50 value of 1040 ± 5 mg/mL for reducing power assays. Acetone and diethyl ether peels fruits extracts showed the best antibacterial agents especially against Micrococcus luteus, however no antifungal activity was observed. Spectral data of FT-IR analysis of Ecballium elaterium seeds and peels fruits extracts revealed the presence of functional groups such as ─DH, C─H, C─D and C=D. Due to their high antioxidant and antibacterial activities, E. elaterium seeds and peels fruits extracts have promising potential as future natural antioxidant and antibacterial agents in food industry.Keywords: Ecballium elaterium; solvent effects; phytochemical contents; antioxidant and antimicrobial properties; FT-IR analysis.Practical Application: Ecballium elaterium seeds and peels fruits can be potentially used as natural antioxidant and antibacterial inhibitor.

BackgroundIn order to validate its antiseptic and anticancer properties with respect to traditional uses, we have screened for the first time the antimicrobial activity of aerial parts of M. vulgare L. essential oil against different pathogenic microorganisms and the cytotoxic activity against HeLa cell lines.MethodsThe agar disk diffusion method was used to study the antibacterial activity of M. vulgare essential oil against 12 bacterial and 4 fungi strains. The disc diameters of zone of inhibition (DD), the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and the concentration inhibiting 50% (IC50) were investigated to characterize the antimicrobial activities of this essential oil. The in vitro cytotoxicity of M. vulgare essential oil was examined using a modified MTT assay; the viability and the IC50 were used to evaluate this test.ResultsThe antimicrobial activity of the essential oil was investigated in order to evaluate its efficacy against the different tested microorganisms. The present results results showed a significant activity against microorganisms especially Gram (+) bacteria with inhibition zones and minimal inhibitory concentration values in the range of 6.6-25.2 mm and 1120-2600 μg/ml, respectively, whereas Gram (-) bacteria exhibited a higher resistance. As far as the antifungal activity, among four strains tested, Botrytis cinerea exhibited the strongest activity with inhibition zones of 12.6 mm. However, Fusarium solani, Penicillium digitatum and Aspergillus niger were less sensitive to M. vulgare essential oil. About the citotoxicity assay, this finding indicate the capability of this essential oil to inhibited the proliferation of HeLa cell lines under some conditions with IC50 value of 0.258 μg/ml.ConclusionThis investigation showed that the M. vulgare essential oil has a potent antimicrobial activity against some Gram (+) pathogenic bacteria and Botrytis cinerea fungi. The present studies confirm the use of this essential oil as anticancer agent. Further research is required to evaluate the practical values of therapeutic applications.

16S rRNA gene clone libraries were separately constructed from three ponds with different salt concentrations, M2 (15%), TS38 (25%) and S5 (32%), located within a multipond solar saltern of Sfax. The 16S rRNA genes from 216 bacterial clones and 156 archaeal clones were sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. 44 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were generated for Bacteria and 67 for Archaea. Phylogenetic groups within the bacterial domain were restricted to Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria, with the exception that one cyanobacterial OTU was found in the TS38 pond. 85.7, 26.6 and 25.0% of the bacterial OTUs from M2, TS38 and S5 ponds, respectively, are novel. All archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences were exclusively affiliated with Euryarchaeota. 75.0, 60.0 and 66.7% of the OTUs from, respectively, M2, TS38 and S5 ponds are novel. The result showed that the Tunisian multipond solar saltern harbored novel prokaryotic diversity that has never been reported before for solar salterns. In addition, diversity measurement indicated a decrease of bacterial diversity and an increase of archaeal diversity with rising salinity gradient, which was in agreement with the previous observation for thalassohaline systems. Comparative analysis showed that prokaryotic diversity of Tunisian saltern was higher than that of other salterns previously studied.

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